In one form of continous multi-jet ink jet printer, the ink jets, as they break up into coplanar trains of droplets, are passed adjacent to respective electrodes, in a face of a charging electrode. Each electrode is connected to a respective lead so that appropriate charging potentials can be provided in accordance with the charging programme to the individual jets.
In view of the small dimensions involved, there being typically four or more jets per millimeter, it is very difficult to provide charging electrodes of sufficient accuracy and properly connected to their respective leads but insulated from one another.
Such electrodes and leads have previously been prepared by expensive and tedious photoresist and etching techniques, but these have not been entirely successful in providing clearly defined edges to the very narrow and narrowly spaced electrodes and leads.